Fostering healthy families: An exploration of the informal and formal support needs of foster caregivers

Mallette, Jacquelyn K.; Almond, Lindsey; Leonard, Hannah

doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104760

Cited by 21 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Also, Rominov et al (2018) found that perinatal fathers felt marginalized by some formal supports such as health care workers and mental health professionals, meaning they were not acknowledged as coparents during appointments. Fathers also reported that their partner served as a gateway to information about parenting (Rominov et al, 2018), which has also been found to be true for foster fathers (e.g., Mallette, Almond, et al, 2020a). Similarly, in reports from foster fathers, Wilson et al (2007) found a lack of acknowledgment and support from child welfare professionals (e.g., caseworkers) compared with foster mothers.…”

Section: Formal and Informal Supportmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Fathers draw from interpersonal and contextual resources, including formal and informal supports, to operate in their fathering role (Palkovitz & Hull, 2018). Foster parents have reported receiving both formal and informal support for their foster caregiving role (Mallette, Almond, et al, 2020a;Richardson, Futris, et al, 2018a). Sources of formal support may include the social service agency, the caseworker, other service providers, the child's school or teacher, therapists, foster care payments, or the foster parent association.…”

Section: Formal and Informal Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, societal expectations for foster fathers may also be difficult to navigate because social systems often devalue or ignore the presence and involvement of fathers or assume that they are not willing or interested in being as involved with their foster children as foster mothers (Rhodes et al, 2003). Even in cases in which a foster father is the primary caretaker, he may encounter situations in which the social services worker (unintentionally) leaves him out of case planning (Gilligan, 2000;Mallette, Almond, et al, 2020a) and prioritizes the mother in decision-making. A foster father may have to contend with societal expectations that mothers are the "natural" caregivers and fathers are either unnecessary (Gilligan, 2000) or even potentially a threat to foster children.…”

Section: The Identity Of Foster Fathersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fathers with increased intentionality are expected to be motivated to commit their time and resources toward fulfilling and satisfying their role expectations (Lindberg et al, 2017). Still, although empirical evidence is lacking in this area, some qualitative studies suggest that compared with foster mothers, foster fathers tend to assume less responsibility for daily childcare (Mallette, Almond, et al, 2020a).…”

Section: How Identity Influences Foster Fatheringmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Foster father identity: A theoretical framework

Mallette

Richardson²,

Futris³

2020

J of Family Theo & Revie

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Foster fathers, who care for and have a unique opportunity to positively influence the at-risk children who are placed in their home, may struggle to establish a salient foster father identity due to a lack of societal clarity about their role and conflicting views about their importance within the child welfare system. However, we lack theoretical and empirical knowledge on foster fathering. Thus, a nuanced conceptual understanding of the factors and processes that influence the development of foster father identity, which influences the health and involvement of the father-child relationship, would provide insight into supporting foster fathers in establishing healthy, involved relationships with foster children. In this article, we summarize the existing literature on fatherhood and father identity in general; introduce a theoretical framework describing the unique role, identity, and experiences of foster fathers in the United States; and propose recommendations and implications for future research.Fathers play an important and unique role in the lives of their children. Lamb (1975) called fathers the "forgotten contributors" of child development, launching an ever-expanding effort to explore the unique role that fathers play in the lives of their children and increasing our understanding of the importance of fatherhood.

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Section: Formal and Informal Supportmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Formal and Informal Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Identity Of Foster Fathersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: How Identity Influences Foster Fatheringmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Foster father identity: A theoretical framework

Mallette

Richardson²,

Futris³

2020

J of Family Theo & Revie

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Training programs for foster parents have been effective in decreasing placement disruptions (Price et al, 2008, Schoemaker et al, 2019 and improving a foster parent's ability to work with children with disruptive behavior problems (Solomon et al, 2016). Recently, Mallette et al (2020) examined the supports necessary for foster parents to be successful in coordinating their interactions with the social welfare system, the child in their care and with birth parents. Caregivers must know the rules and restrictions related to contact between parents and children in foster placement, know how to manage behavioral or medical challenges for a foster child in their care, understand how to develop a bond with their foster child and provide support to or be a mentor for a birth parent.…”

Section: Implications For Case Planning and Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual parent-child visitation in support of family reunification in the time of COVID-19

Singer

Brodzinsky

2020

Developmental Child Welfare

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When children are removed from their birth parents and placed in foster care, child welfare policy and practice prioritizes family reunification in permanency planning. Of the many services offered to families in support of reunification, parent-child visitation is one of the most important. The purposes of visitation are to maintain and support the parent-child relationship, facilitate improved parenting skills, and offer social workers opportunities to gauge the family’s progress in meeting reunification goals. Whether supervised or unsupervised, parent-child visitations most often involve face-to-face contact between family members. During periods of sheltering in place in response to COVID-19, however, face-to-face visits have been largely curtailed. In their place, child welfare agencies have begun using virtual visitation through various technology platforms such as smartphones, FaceTime, Zoom, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Skype, often facilitated by foster parents. A number of questions have arisen, however, about the effectiveness of virtual visitations and how best to use them as a means of supporting reunification goals. In the present article, we examine existing data on how children respond to virtual communication with parents and extended family and what practical issues and training needs are encountered when implementing virtual visits in juvenile dependency cases.

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